Show Notes

I have lived in San Francisco, New York, Boston, L.A., and Japan – all the big names. So it may surprise you to learn that I currently live in Rhode Island. That’s right, a state most famously known as a unit of measure, as in “Texas is 220 times the size of Rhode Island. Or, the wildfires in California burned an area the size of Rhode Island.

It’s true, we are small. But we have a lot going on. What you might not know is that Rhode Island is a hot bed of creativity. Rhode Island has the 3rd largest percentage of creative sector jobs in the country after New York and California. And Providence has the 3rd most industrial designers per capita after Detroit and Cleveland. All of this creativity is fed by award winning design schools and other assets that continually feed this creativity.

DesignxRI is one of those assets. The organization was founded by Lisa Carnevale to cultivate this incredible talent and leverage it to drive the economic development of Rhode Island. This requires persistent collaboration and partnerships between the public and private sector. And my guest today is adept at navigating those partnerships.

Conor MacDonald is adept at navigating public and private sectors. He is is Programs and Engagement Director for DesignxRI. And from personal experience, I can tell you he is a connector. He is just one of those people that does an incredible job of remembering people, promoting them, and creating opportunities where he sees them.